Central Park Media Lets Fans Cast "Outlanders"

Peter Tatara writes to let us know that Central Park Media is holding a public casting call for the English version of "Outlanders." For each of the four main characters you get a choice between four different voice actors. Seems like a fun way to generate interest and ensure that the majority of enthusiasts like the dubbing.

Comments

"Battia: a sexy friend"

[ReformedExCon]

The "sexy friend" has cat ears and a tail. What kind of perversion is this?

Re:"Battia: a sexy friend"

[ceeam]

We are talking anime here. It would've been "perversion" if "sexy friend" had no neko-no-mimi ;)

Re:"Battia: a sexy friend"

[DoktorTomoe]

A kind of perception that actually comes close to most women' character. However, with nekomimi (not sure if slashdot could handle kanji) it is actually way cuter, isn't it?

Re:"Battia: a sexy friend"

[Creepy Crawler]

Meh. My g/f has this verrry naughty dress that looks very similar to the BSD demon, horns included!!

And the breast fabric is see-thru :-D

Lets just say we Role-play certain anime that's labelled "h" for some reason ;-P

Re:"Battia: a sexy friend"

[packeteer]

Lets just say we certainly know why your name is "Creepy Crawler".

Dubbing can be strange

[Cave_Monster]

I find it weird watching dubbed anime sometimes. There are times when the finished product is comical because...

(a) the characters' mouths move beyond what has been said
(b) the character is still speaking yet their mouth has stopped moving
(c) the dubbed voice has been sped up or slowed down to match the mouth movements.

Why not just leave the animation in the native language and add subtitles?

Re:Dubbing can be strange

[astromog]

1) Because not everyone can read, or at least read fast enough to keep up with a spoken conversation.
2) Because reading subtitles is a lot more tiring than listening and not everyone wants to put in the effort.

Despite all the fuss about dubbing removing much of things such as nuances that the original voice track has, most people who argue that point forget that if you don't actually understand the spoken language, you're still getting it through a (translated) filter and so you're missing most of those nuances anyway.

Re:Dubbing can be strange

[astromog]

Oh, I absolutely agree. I wasn't arguing for dubs (although reading my post now it seems that way). Having both is essential. I personally think it's better to watch with subtitles whether you understand the language or not, because there are also things that the director and original actors convey through their use of things like tone that transcend language.

Being a Japanese speaker myself, I experienced the same thing of picking up all the little nuances (and getting annoyed when the subtitles are just plain wrong), while my friends just had the subtitles to rely on and missed quite a few things. For example, little jokes in the way choice of words characters used, or the tone of one person talking to another being incorrect (lack of keigo for example) and thus rude for that situation, something that there isn't even a concept of in English.

Re:Dubbing can be strange

[fbjon]

Only because you're not used to it, and are thus a slow reader. Me, I live in Finland, where dubs do not exist (except for kids' movies, and then in two versions). I find that, while I can't glare at the screen trying to pick up all the details, I'm not constantly glancing at the subtitles either. They're sort of just inside the field of vision, so I can see what is there without looking. You need to read outside your center field of view.

This is also why subtitles should be in clear colors with uncomplicated font (i.e. not dark purple in old gothic). Otherwise it's mostly pointless, but some subbers don't get this. There is also the minimum time that a line must be shown on screen, and usually you have to start showing them slightly before the charater speaks. Also, if something is about to happen, the sub should be shown so that it can be read just before it happens.

Subtitling is an art that no fansubber I've seen has mastered yet, unfortunately, but other than that, I prefer subtitled any day.

Recall the old cast

[node357]

I love the Outlanders manga, and the anime was alright. I kind of with they would create an anime more true to the story, but eh. The original dubbed version I heard had pretty decent voice actors, and I think they should be called in for a second run.

To be fair

[Aexia]

All that still happens in the original Japanese.

Re:To be fair

[FireballX301]

Of course it does.

It's just that we can't tell.

CULTURAL APPRECIATION THROUGH IGNORANCE!

I wouldn't say that

[Ogemaniac]

I live in Japan and know a fair bit of the language. English is just as "expressive", in my opinion. The problem is that we express things in such fundamentally different ways that one-for-one translation is impossible. I agree with you - subs are better - but not because they are more accurate or expressive. They are better because you still get the emotion as it was emoted in Japanese, with the neutral English translation below. When it is dubbed, the emotion must be placed directly atop an English phrase, and they often do not match or sound really silly.

They're not English...

[TheoGB]

...They're AMERICAN. I'm not voting. What a swizz. :-(

American Anime Dubbers: They just don't get it

[TuxPaper]

They really don't get it. They obviously see there's a problem with their dubs. They "see" it by all the people badmouthing the dubs, but they don't really understand it. What CPM is doing right now is a prime example of their misunderstanding. They are letting fans choose between 4 voices for each of 4 characters. All of these voices can not act. I doubt they've been to a voice acting school. Sure, you can choose the best sounding voice actor/actress (VA) out of the group, or the one that closest matches the original Japanese voice (which is hard, because all 4 voices sound very similar, and nothing like the originals), but the end result will still be poor. They still won't be able to act the parts. You'll still be left with a feeling that they are reading from a paper, or over hamming it up.

In the end, the type of voice really doesn't matter, as long as the VA can portray the character in the manner s/he needs to be portrayed in. If the VA is good, you'll soon forget that s/he doesn't sound like the Japanese voice. You'll be immersed in the story and the character.

One has to wonder if CPM (and the other anime dubbers) are being cheap, and are not hiring (or interviewing) expensive, professionally trained VAs, or if there are just no professionally trained VAs in America.

If voice in the samples are actually from people who have gone to VA school, I apologize, but the school you went to is crap crap crap.

Useless attempt

[tehpwn]

Fans who are used to hear japanese in animes will never get used to english dubbed version; the languages intonations variances are too different (Japanese is very expressivly varying in intonations compared to US english), so feeling aren't so marked in english phonetics.

Wow.

[MasamuneXGP]

Putting aside the anime-haters and sub vs dub arguments, this is a MAJOR step in the right direction for anime in the US. Dubbers who actually care about what the already-existing fans think?! Unthinkable. I can only hope more dubbing companies start doing this. I can only imagine how awesome it would be if a popular anime such as Naruto got similar treatment.

Fool All of the People Some of the Time

[Doc Ruby]

Democratic voting is far from a guarantee that the majority will be happy with their selection once its made. But it is very handy in making people feel like the selection is their fault, that they should get defensive, and protect their selection from the others, even when they become the minority through attrition.

Re:Terrible idea

[Hatta]

You don't understand voting for 4 candidates. What happens is that the minority (~26%) likes the dubbing and the majority (the other 74%) hates it.

It would be a good place to use something like Instant Runoff Voting, which solves this problem. The american government has the same problem, see the 2000 election. Using IRV in contests like this would be a great way to teach people about it.